Cast & Creative Team Set for September's THE GREEN LINE At Buddies In Bad Times Theatre
Performances will run September 19 - October 4, 2025.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Aug. 12, 2025
Award-winning Canadian play The Green Line by Makram Ayache will open the 47th season at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre this September in partnership with In Arms Theatre, the MENA Collective and Factory Theatre.
The Toronto Premiere of The Green Line features an entirely Arab cast, all in their Buddies in Bad Times and Factory Theatre debuts: Waseem Alzer, Oshen Aoun, Basma Baydoun, and Zaynna Khalife.
Set and costume design is by Anahita Dehbonehie, lighting design is by Jareth Li with associate Kit Norman, and sound design is by Chris Pereira and Heidi Chan, with stage management by Laura Baxter.
A poetic, heartbreaking story of intergenerational queer history in Lebanon, The Green Line weaves together civil war Beirut with a contemporary nightclub, following one family's journey to discover their past. The play was recently named as a finalist for the 2025 Lambda Literary Awards. It was also a finalist for the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award, and Winner of the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play in 2022.
"It's an honour to offer this story at a time when Arab voices are so acutely being erased and mischaracterized within the superstructures of media and politics. Working with a full Arab team on a bilingual production is the kind of thing I only dreamed I could achieve with this story. We started exploring The Green Line in the 2019 Rhubarb Festival at Buddies, and now, to bring it back as its director, helming my own company, and with the support of Buddies and Factory Theatre, feels like the perfect offering for its Toronto premiere." - Makram Ayache, Playwright & Director, The Green Line
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